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ponderings on a purchase and lessons learned from YLF

frannieb

Veteran

So I have been dog sick for the last four days - and lots of time on my hands as I laid around trying to get better.

The below is the thought process i am currently going through on a purchase and I thought I would share because it is all these questions now are becasue of my time on YLF

I have a history of falling for pretties and buying for a fantasy life or fantasy body. I have gotten much better as of lately and in the last 6 months I have belonged to YLF I haven't made any rogue purchases that fit this category.

So I found a leather skirt on sale and I have always wanted one - This is actually kinda a HEWI for a plus size gal.
Questions I'm asking myself
1. Is this for my real life or fantasy life
2. Would I have bought this at full price and am I only intrigued because of the sale price
3. Does it fit into my current capsule
4. Costs per Wear - at $20 dollars a wear I need to wear the skirt 9 times between now and April - to get to $10 dollars a wear I need to wear the skirt 9 times this year and 9 times next winter - am I that committed to this skirt
5. If I have to wear it 8 times - how many outfits can I make
6. Can I order multiple sizes to get a perfect fit

The answers
1. real life with edge
2. I looked at it not on sale and was highly intrigued didn't pull the trigger because i have had to do a big wardrobe refresh this winter do to my closet cleaning out and a new job
3. yes - fits right in
4. I can commit to wearing once a week
5. I came up with 8 different ways to wear with what I currently have - no need to buy to add to it
6. yes I can purchase multiple sizes

I will update on if the skirt works or not - That is another thing I have learned from YLF - I buy and return so much more than I ever did before because I just won't settle - and I can tell you that is the biggest lesson learned because it makes getting dressed so easy.

Thanks for following along with my sick ramblings.

Shopping

17 replies

Latest reply was from Dimity

Tania

Veteran

Nice to hear the thinking-through process! I have also started to think of some of the questions you listed, and I appreciate YLF for the guidance. I hope you feel better soon.

TraceyLiz65

(website)

Veteran

Congrats on taking responsibility and talking yourself through the decision. A leather skirt is a classic and will be a great addition!

Carla

Veteran

Great exercise test. I hope this skirt is all you want it to be IRL. Show-show, once it arrives.

unfrumped

Veteran

Good thinking. For me it depends on style and fit-- if it feels like" you" but with a bit of edge from the leather, and if it goes with items that take it in the right direction(s)-- for example, classic for office or trendy for going out. You have a great plan to put it through its paces at home and see what you think.

Anonymous

It's interesting to see how considering cost per wear - and being realistic about how often a piece will get worn - can throw a bucket of cold water over an idea. Or at least bring a person down to earth - i.e. me I've never considered it while purchasing anything, and perhaps I should. I guess the question is - how do you know what's reasonable?

Is the skirt a classic cut/colour? Will it look dated in a year or two? Is it long enough?

So the leather skirt is less than $200, which sounds reasonable to me, but when you need to commit to wearing it almost once a week for the next 3 months - that's where it would get dodgy. So what's the magic number for the cost of wearing clothes? Hmmmm - big philosophical question for so early in the day. Off to get some coffee and ponder this one. I really want to see this skirt!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Nice thought process. WELL DONE. Hope the skirt works out, and feel better soon. xo

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Great realizations, Frannie, and it sounds as if you are becoming the boss of your clothes! I can't wait to see that skirt on you. It will be a real statement piece.

Lisa, I don't think there is a magic "CPW" figure -- it will vary so much by budget and lifestyle. Some people make very meticulous calculations and want to get down to $1 per wear or even less on all items. Others choose a much higher number -- maybe $10 or even $50 per wear! Still others figure out averages. Maybe $10 per wear is fine on this item if that item is only $2 per wear. That kind of thing.

Still others don't factor CPW at all in their thinking. For them, the happiness factor trumps all, especially for statement items.

I fall somewhere in between. I don't really calculate strict CPW for my clothes, but I do rough guesstimations at the time of purchase, similar to what Frannie describes here. And as much as possible I try to put my money where my use is.

Since I'm the kind of person who used to skimp on clothing and purchases for myself, in my case, thinking about CPW isn't only a way to talk myself out of a too-expensive fantasy-life item. It's also a way to persuade myself to spend more on an item that will get a LOT of wear.

I've been keeping track of my wears this season for the first time, and it's instructive. I see, for instance, how very, very often I wear footwear (duh!!) and this in turn allows me to justify the higher cost of a great pair of shoes/ boots. Ditto for coats (in our climate), jeans (because of my lifestyle). And so on.

Meanwhile, I've also discovered that I have quite a lot of shirts. I wear them all -- but don't wear any one of them that often. What that means is not so much that I will buy cheaper shirts in the future, as that I won't allow too many more in my closet -- I'll want to keep the numbers constant or reduce.

OTOH, everybody needs some statement items in their closet and sometimes these come with a higher price tag. The CPW may be high, but the VALUE for wear is equally high. I feel this way about my suit (which rarely gets worn as such), about some special occasion items, about my Reiss jacket (which does get worn a lot, but since it was expensive, and bought only last spring, still has a relatively high CPW of about $20 PW).

Anonymous

mine was a rhetorical question

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Aww....but I just love gnawing on those rhetorical questions (instead of working) ...and you know, for somebody reading, it might not be.

Anonymous

Aziraphale

Veteran

Sorry to hear you've been ill! It's the pits, especially around the Christmas holiday.

I think your leather skirt will work out. Leather is a little edgier than other materials, but you don't need a special occasion to wear it. (I find the things I've bought that fall in to the 'fantasy life' category are dressy items -- because I rarely have dressy events to go to these days! Well, except funerals, sadly). The skirt will look fab and perhaps even become a staple.

As for cost per wear, I'm not a meticulous calculator if it, either -- but I do have a ballpark idea.

unfrumped

Veteran

I agree that CPW is more of a reality check and something to consider by averaging, not having the same criteria for every item. So for me, things that have a high CPW need to have a specific purpose-- dressy pumps so I can get dressed for a few special occasions per year ( I could also decide to make do with more everyday footwear).
Then, as Suz said, a wardrobe review could disclose that a CPW is staying high not due to a very high cost items, but too many of them. This has been a good lesson for me. If I get some good " essentials" from AT or Gap or BR at a good price point, I can wreck the whole advantage by getting " more" of the same, instead of letting those get a lot of wear per item and then having resources to splurge on something that won't exactly be economical, but
will be perfect for the times I will wear it. Or, as in the quality thread, resources for a wardrobe essential( workhorse, whatever!) in an upscale version, if I found it.
It still comes down to total budget and how you get a useful, realistic and fun wardrobe within that.

frannieb

Veteran

Great wisdom in the replies - I am trying out the cost per wear question to bring some reality to an item like the skirt. $20 was just a random number that if I got to that CPW for a statement piece I would be okay - others may not be okay with that cost.
Also I don't feel the need to ask that question with everything - sweaters never get this question because I live in MN and love warm statement type sweaters - they will get worn.

So the skirt I should add I had another question I asked how much will tailoring be. I need to have every skirt I own tailored and have shied away from a leather pencil skirt because while I love a pencil skirt tailoring a leather one would be more then I want to spend. The skirt is a knee length a- line which if I need the waist tailored will not be a much as a pencil skirt.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Great thought process, frannieb! Thanks for sharing it. I hope these lessons will sink in with me over time. What I often fail to consider is the actual opportunities I'll have to wear a new item, given the wealth of choices already in my wardrobe.
I hope you're better soon!

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Excellent approach to the purchase of what I hope works out to be a favorite new skirt. I am not a cpw shopper - more like a cost compared to possible re-sale compared to chance I might actually wear it compared to thrill of the find compared to who else might appreciate it compared to how much money I made that month...well you get the idea. Definitely highly idiosyncratic and does not really translate to much of a plan :-).

Thistle

Veteran

Great thought process, and I like the way you laid it all out. Good luck with the skirt!

Dimity

Hope you feel better soon. Let us know how the skirt goes.